AFR signed on to a letter urging leaders of the House Appropriations Committee to undo irresponsible funding cuts and reject the harmful riders in the Fiscal Year 25 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (FY25 CJS) Appropriations legislation passed by the House Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Subcommittee.
Today, President Biden acknowledged what too many Americans already know: the rent is simply too damn high and the public cannot continue to subsidize corporate landlords’ unlimited appetite for rent hikes through our tax code. By proposing to repeal tax breaks, like the depreciation write-off for corporate landlords who stick their tenants with rent increases above 5 percent, Biden is taking a vital step toward direct action to curb the corporate profiteering that contributes to the housing crisis.
The cryptocurrency industry’s lobbying efforts and hundreds of millions in campaign spending failed to generate enough congressional support to override President Biden’s veto of the Republican House’s effort to roll back Securities and Exchange Commission guidance designed to reduce the risks crypto assets can pose to investors and the market. Consumer protection advocates welcomed the vote as a good outcome for investor protection.
The Language Access Task Force of Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of fair housing and civil rights organizations, applauds Wednesday’s announcement from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposing rules that would ensure that borrowers with limited English proficiency (LEP) have a meaningful opportunity to seek assistance from their mortgage companies in times of distress, helping them stay in their homes. The proposal, which includes additional improvements to the general hardship assistance process, follows a petition from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) urging the Bureau to include language access in the mortgage rule.
AFR and coalition members signed onto a letter urging the Senate to support the nomination of Kristin N. Johnson to Serve as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the Department of the Treasury. Johnson is a highly accomplished scholar of financial regulation, and has ably worked with stakeholders as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission promote market stability and integrity, and protect market participants and investors from misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent practices.
AFR and coalition members signed onto a letter urging the Senate to support the nomination of Christy Goldsmith Romero to be Chair and Member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Goldsmith Romero led the office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and has decades of experience regulating financial institutions and markets, broad and deep knowledge of the financial system, and a record of commitment to the public interest.
AFR and coalition members signed onto a letter urging the Senate to support the nomination of Caroline A. Crenshaw to Serve as a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for another term. Commissioner Crenshaw was unanimously confirmed in 2020 and her distinguished service at the SEC fully justified this Senate support. Crenshaw has worked tirelessly and skillfully with all stakeholders to advance the mission of the SEC.
Our report found that CEOs with preliminary CHIPS agreements are sitting on company stock holdings worth more than $2.7 billion ($306 million on average). In other words, these executives are positioned to reap huge personal windfalls from share price pops related to continued buyback spending. President Biden has spoken out repeatedly against wasteful stock buybacks and his economic agenda centers on an industrial policy to create good jobs and long-term prosperity, particularly for communities and workers who’ve been left behind.
The report from the Institute for Policy Studies and the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Maximizing the Benefits of the CHIPS Program, analyzes the distribution of the $39 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. It also examines the Biden administration’s initial steps to stop taxpayer money from going to share buybacks by granting preferential treatment to firms that agree to forgo all stock buybacks for five years.
AFREF, in partnership with the Institute for Policy Studies, has released a report on the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act’s $39 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing, and specifically on the Biden administration’s decision to grant preferential treatment in the awarding of these subsidies to firms that agree to forgo all stock buybacks for five years.